Regardless of Arsene Wenger’s firm stance on the decision that Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain would not be leaving Emirates this summer, the Frenchman could not stop him from leaving the club for Premier League rivals Liverpool.

“I want Oxlade-Chamberlain to be part of Arsenal Football Club for the next ten years, I expect him to stay, 100%. No matter the speculation, he will stay.”

There were plenty of rumors about Oxlade-Chamberlain’s future as he edged closer towards the last 12 months on his contract at Emirates, with Wenger being keen to offer him a contract to stay with the Gunners. In fact he presented an offer to Chamberlain thought to be in the region of £180,000-per-week to keep him at the club but most people think he always wanted to leave as he wasn’t getting enough playing time (wonder why?).

Anyway, according to a reliable BBC sports reporter David Ornstein, Wenger really wasn’t happy about ‘The Ox’ leaving the club:

“He [Wenger] was stunned and bitterly disappointed when Oxlade-Chamberlain rejected the club’s final contract offer (an enormous pay rise that would have earned him close to £180,000-per-week if Arsenal made it back into the Champions League) and I’m told Wenger did not hold back when Oxlade-Chamberlain told him face-to-face that he wanted to move on.”

To show how desperate the England International was to leave the club, Oxlade-Chamberlain joined the Merseysiders in a £35 million deal which will now see him earn around £125,000-per-week at Anfield, around £60,000 a week less than the Arsenal offer.

Following yet another disappointing set of performances for England this week, the 24-year-old will definitely not be receiving a warm reception when he returns to the Emirates Stadium with his Liverpool side in December after a career at Arsenal which often promised so much, but in reality delivered very little.